Recent Posts

Drought Shortens the Harvest Season for Alhambra Valley Pears

BY DEBRA J. MORRIS The sky begins to lighten as the sun rises over the rolling hills above Martinez, filtering light through the pear trees. It’s going to be another hot dry day at Alhambra Valley Pears & Beef, a farm nestled in the beautiful Alhambra Valley/Briones Valley Agricultural Preserve …

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Duvall’s blast, Rosario’s cycle lead Braves past Giants 3-0

BY DANIEL GLUSKOTER Adam Duvall‘s two-run seventh-inning home run broke open a pitchers duel between Max Fried and Anthony DeSclafani as the Atlanta Braves salvaged the final game of their weekend series with a 3-0 win over the Giants Sunday afternoon at Oracle Park. Atlanta got a stellar pitching performance …

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Anderson East’s “Maybe We Never Die” In need of resuscitation

BY KARYN A. POKLETAR Professionally known as Anderson East, Michael Cameron Anderson grew up in a small town of about 20,000 in Athens, Alabama. His new album Maybe We Never Die follows his 2018 hit Encore. Not surprising for a southern kid, East’s primary musical influence was the gospel hymn. …

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NFL 2021: Contenders for the Super Bowl

BY J.A. SCHWARTZ Continuing our countdown of the best teams in the NFL heading into the 2021 season, here’s our Top 8: 8. Los Angeles Rams: When a team can put Aaron Donald, who has won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year twice in the past three seasons, in …

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NFL 2021: The lowdown on the long shots

BY J.A. SCHWARTZ The 2021 NFL season will be the second straight campaign waged in the shadow of a pandemic. Last season, most of which was staged in cavernous stadiums largely empty due to virus avoidance procedures, still ended in a familiar way to NFL fans: with Tom Brady lifting …

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Manaea leads A’s past White Sox to keep playoff hopes alive

BY DANIEL GLUSKOTER Sean Manaea held the White Sox to five hits over seven innings and a throwing error by Chicago pitcher Reynaldo Lopez proved decisive as the A’s scored a 3-1 win Thursday afternoon to keep their flailing postseason hopes alive. The win gave Oakland the three-game series, and …

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BottleRock jump starts Bay Area’s attempt to return to normal

BY HELEN LAME’ AND RICK D. PORCARO The eighth annual BottleRock Napa Valley Music Festival concluded Sunday night with headlining sets by Foo Fighers, Megan Thee Stallion and Village People bringing the Labor Day weekend event to a close with over 120,000 fans attending the three day celebration. As usual, …

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Jack Russell’s Great White pays another tribute to Led Zeppelin

BY KARYN A. POKLETAR A sequel is the continuation of a story that develops because of an earlier one. In this case Jack Russell and Great White have continued covering the thrilling Led Zeppelin catalog with Great Zeppelin ll: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin, 22 years after releasing 1999’s Great …

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Giants down Brewers to avert sweep, regain tie for NL West lead

BY DANIEL GLUSKOTER Darren Ruf and Thario Estrada provided the offensive punch in the eighth inning to back a strong pitching performance by Logan Webb as the reeling Giants snapped their four-game losing streak with a 5-2 win over Milwaukee Thursday afternoon. The win enabled San Francisco to move back …

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Chrissie Hynde provides musical color to Bob Dylan covers album

BY KARYN A. POKLETAR From punk rock icon to jazz chanteuse, Chrissie Hynde has long been an innovative tour deforce in the world of music. Now, nearly 45 years after her debut as the ballsy front woman of the Pretenders, she’s lending her signature vocals and impassioned interpretations to nine …

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